Diablo 15 Year Anniversary: Diablo III Almost Done

Jay Wilson and Chris Metzen (Senior Vice-president of Story & Franchise Development) talk on video about their experiences with the development of Diablo along the years, in celebration of the 15th Anniversary of Diablo. Both look totally badass sitting on an old-style chair with a Tristram Cathedral background setting replica. The quality of the video looks like one you find in a hollywood film.

Blizzard Entertainment also provided an awesome Extended Diablo Retrospective telling a chronology of the development of Diablo throughout these fiften years. It’s definitely a great content to watch, and it shows the level of quality the people behind this documentary put to release it by the anniversary. This is not something you put together in a couple of weeks.

The highlight of it all is listening to Chris Metzen talk to the Diablo fans with such a passion, and of course, Jay Wilson drawing a smile on his face as he says: “We are almost done with Diablo III, and that’s a fitting celebration of the 15th year anniversary for Diablo.”

You better check it out here. Below is a transcript of the interviews.

Chris Metzen

We’re very excited about Diablo III coming up. We think you’re going to like it a lot. On a personal level, it’s been really, really rewarding to get back into the Diablo franchise, and be able to help develop this story.

I’ve long felt that it’s potentially the most interesting franchise we’ve built. I just think that Diablo has potentially a level of soul that the others can’t quite reach.

This innate world where the clash between light and darkness is so evidenced and foreground in the player’s path, and I think that we put every ounce of our passion and energy into Diablo III.

And I think in particular this time around I’m so excited about our cinematics, and the way they help tell the game’s story, and I think it’s some of the most compelling and certainly visually stunning work we’ve ever done.

I think people are going to fall into the world like never before, and be engaged with this story like never before.

So it’s been a very, very rewarding process from the creative standpoint. I think it’s absolutely the sharpest chapter of Diablo yet.

So guys, once again, happy Anniversary. Thank you for your support all these years, and I hope you’re very, very excited about Diablo III.

I can’t wait to adventure with you throughout the world of Sanctuary.

Jay Wilson

Jay Wilson: Fifteen years of Diablo. I’ve been there since the beginning as a member of the community.

The last six years as a developer. And I have to say, one of the greatest things I found in making the transition was the incredible support and passion that we get from our community.

We’re really worked hard to make a game worthy of all of you. You’ve given us such great feedback; such great support, and really made us feel like you will always help us find the right path, the right choices to make sure it’s the best game it can be.

My relationship with Diablo started, I was playing Warcraft II, and I remember looking on the back of the CD case, and there was this advertisement for this game called Diablo.

And I remember leading up to just the release of the original Diablo. In my house, my wife was not allowed to say it at normal volume. It was always spoken of in hushed tones. And then the day that it arrived, and we all took several days off and gonna burn through the game.

It was really getting it that first time and seeing it. That was one of the most memorable moments for me, with the original Diablo.

One of the great things about all the Diablo games, is how they’ve kind of moved forward with the original Diablo.

It was a very simple, straight forward game. And the second game really managed to maintain that, keep the simplicity.

A lot of games when you make sequels they tend to make the game more complex. But Diablo II kept that simplicity but added things like the skill trees, which really changed how you built characters in pretty much all action RPGs to follow.

Working on Diablo III, one of the things we tried to focus on was, We wanted to keep the game really simple but add a lot of more depth to all the mechanics.

We didn’t add anymore controls, we didn’t make the game anymore complex, but we made the controls and the elements that were already there. Have a lot more depth to them.

So it’s one of the things we’ve tried to hold onto with Diablo III. Is to make sure that it’s got that really simple facade, that hides that really rich deep game underneath.

We are almost done with Diablo III, and that’s a fitting celebration of the 15th year anniversary for Diablo. So, we are getting it to you as soon as we can.

Thank you so much for how much raw energy and passion that all of you have brought to the Diablo games, and we hope that Diablo III really lives up to all your expectations.